TRIGGER WARNING: Lots of meat. The posting rules are simple; if you try to denigrate the food I ate, or tell me that my diet in Hattiesburg was unhealthy, I will delete your comment. I have stated a gazillion times that I eat like this only on seminar trips, and that my usual diet at home is healthy. Leisure fascists and food police aren’t welcome here.
*****
I took advantage of my Darwin Day talk at Southern Mississippi University to sample the local comestibles. All too often on seminar trips, the hosts take you to generic “continental” restaurants where you eat generic and bland cuisine. But my hosts at SMU kindly acceded to my request to sample the indigenous cuisine: Southern and seafood.
As soon as we pulled in town, and before I checked into my hotel, we went to Leatha’s BBQ, rated by TripAdvisor as the #1 restaurant in Hattiesburg. It was a classic BBQ joint, simple and humble, with the all-important smoker out back. This is an improvement from the shack that, I’m told, Leatha’s used to have before the owner moved it into town. (Leatha died not long ago and her daughter runs the operation.) And this is what you want a BBQ joint to look like:
And this is what you want your plate to look like. I had three meats: pulled pork, pork ribs, and beef ribs, with a side of their “famous slaw” and potato salad, along with the Wine of the South: sweetened ice tea. Extra BBQ sauce is in the cup at the top, and the rolls are an afterthought (cornbread or hushpuppies are far superior). I found it good but not great BBQ, with the ribs being a bit mushy. It was still an excellent meal, but not comparable to the place we visited for lunch the next day.
After dinner I asked if I could see the smoker, where all the meat is smoked before cooking. Here it is: a 30-year-old smoker that resembles a Russian space capsule. The meat is smoked for about six hours with pecan-wood smoke, and then finished inside in an oven. The guy who starts the fire and smokes the meat comes in at about 3 a.m.
The pecan wood is burned in this attachment to the smoker capsule, with the smoke then fed through the tube to the right and up over the meat:
The critical smoker chamber. It’s clearly not been cleaned in 30 years, and you don’t want it to be!
The pecan logs. If there’s no smokehouse, and they’re not using real wood, don’t go to that place for BBQ. Much of American “BBQ” is severely debased, infused with “artificial smoke” and cooked to a jelly-like mushiness.
For lunch the next day we went to a truly superb place: Strick’s. It’s larger and fancier, but the food was excellent, especially the pulled and chopped pork. It was hard to choose, for it was crawfish season and I could have had a huge plate of boiled crawfish (not shown here) instead of BBQ. But I opted for the BBQ buffet—only about $12 for all the artery-clogging food you could eat.
The highlight was an entire BBQ pig, and you could simply ask the guy to slice off your preferred cut, which he’d then chop into pieces. That’s is the way you want it, with the tender inside bits mixed with the crispy bits. You can also add sauce, but really good BBQ needs no sauce: the smoke and the meat suffice. This place was not stingy, so you could go back for seconds and thirds of pig. Other meat was also on tap: fried chicken and pork ribs.
Buffet, part I: turnip greens, creamed corn, unidentified dish, cole slaw, fried chicken, and unidentified dishes.
Buffet, part II: green beans, baked beans, unidentified dishes, fries, jalapeño cornbread muffins (excellent!), hush puppies, and onion rings:
Buffet, part III: Salad. Useless filler; only for weenies or those on a diet (but why go to Stick’s if you’re on a diet?):
A properly composed BBQ plate: chopped pork, a pork rib, a jalapeno cornbread muffin, a slice of cornbread, a hush puppy, turnip greens, creamed corn, and a big glass of sweet tea. I had seconds and then dessert.
Half of the desserts: banana pudding (a classic southern dish) and chocolate pudding. I had the banana pudding and then came back for the hot, freshly made peach and blackberry cobblers (sadly, not photographed):
For dinner after my talk, six of us repaired to Marlin’s Grill where I had another classic southern item: shrimp and grits (a sublime and impossibly rich meal, one that everyone should make or try at least once). When properly prepared, it’s a world-class dish (photographed with my iPhone). Grits, cheese, cream, tomato, spices, and many plump shrimp.
Finally, I expressed a wish for oysters, which are abundant and good in the Gulf (Hattiesburg is only an hour away from the shore). On the way to the airport, the chairman took me to the Half Shell Oyster House so I could indulge. (We have good oysters in Chicago, but they’re hideously expensive.)
I started with a half dozen raw oysters, though they offered them prepared in several ways, including grilled. I favor the naked bivalve. Ketchup, Tabasco sauce, lemon, and horseradish come on the side.
And the main course: a fried oyster po-boy (“submarine sandwich”), perhaps my favorite sandwich in the world. I favor these in New Orleans (Casamento’s makes a great one), but the Half Shell’s po-boy was also great. Note that this is indeed a sandwich; there is a long roll underneath all those oysters. Cheese grits are on the side, and, of course, iced tea.
Sure good eating! Y’all come back, hear?
Wow, yum!
Sweet cornbread or the other kind? IIRC there’s a preference for one or the other in the south.
This one wasn’t sweet.
Then I’d have enjoyed it. I dislike corn pones so sweet they taste more like pound cake.
My husband, who is from Texas, is full of enthusiastic praise for outdoors barbecue joints there where they use mesquite wood (which apparently gives the meat a delicious flavour). He never mentioned anything about smokers, so I presume they are not part of the Texas culture.
They do BBQ outdoors in Texas, but that’s usually for celebrations and parties. The great BBQ joints of Texas, which in my opinion produce the country’s greatest BBQ—beef brisket—do indeed have smokers. I know this because I’ve visited many of them, and you’ll find a post on this site about some of them showing the smokers.
My husband never mentioned smokers. He did, however, tell me that he had some kind of contraption in which he would make brisket on his little patio in Houston. I don’t know what brisket is, I don’t think I’ve ever had any.
Brisket is a cut of beef. The same cut that is used for pastrami and corned beef.
Ah, I see. I’m not fond of corned beef, and pastrami leaves me indifferent. I go for the noble parts, as well as for beef hock which is extremely tasty, tender and cheap!
oh yes, they smoke it in Texas…
In a pipe? 😉
Sweet cornbread is Yankee cornbread.
I’ve never had cornbread, either, sweet or otherwise. It is not part of the vast palette of European breads.
I learned late in life that one of the best reasons for travelling was to sample the local food. Sounds delicious!
Hi Jerry,
The pork looks incredible!
Could I ask a polite question? I’m a meat-lover who has no intention of turning vegetarian. I must admit though that this is due to a selfish desire not to be without the food I love, rather than any counter-argument that I’ve managed to define against the reasons why Singer et al would promote vegetarianism.
Have you ever looked at the kind of arguments made by people like Singer about the ethics of meat-eating?
Now that you’ve made me jealous of your pork I’m off to see if I can find something meaty! Leg of lamb is a personal favourite.
John.
I think Singer’s philosophy is valid, but no more valid than any other pro-vegan philosophy – and also no more valid than that of a person who consumes meat, however inconsistent it may be for one to do so and call him/herself an animal lover. If humans limited themselves to the consumption of meat at the levels I imagine are consumed by the host and commenters on this website, I would wager the amount of animal suffering in the world would be a fraction of what it is now.
Singer falls at the presumption that plants do not suffer, or that their suffering is unworthy of consideration. As Skinner said, “a vegetarian is someone who’s never heard a tomato scream.”
“Have you ever looked at the kind of arguments made by people like Singer about the ethics of meat-eating?”
I don’t need Singer’s arguments to know that killing other creatures to live is wrong. However, nature forced me to make this Sophie’s choice. Once we have a good artificial source of meat, I think you’ll rapidly see an upwelling of support for animal rights, but not until then.
Thanks folks!
I agree that plant suffering and artificial meat are really interesting topics!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGLABm7jJ-Y
John.
Lots of reminders of my times in the south, that is for sure. Never cared for grits in straight form but maybe if they were hidden in something else. Also would pass on the sweet tea as they generally over due it.
I lived in Alabama for many years and that’s about the only thing I miss is that great southern cooking!
This is what southerners get when they go to heaven instead of the 72 virgins.
And for the record when Moses descended from the mountain top those famous tablets had no stupid rules for living but contained the first grits recipe.
The only things missing from this mighty repast are fried chicken livers and pecan pie.
You’re right – pecan pie!
Drooling at the beginning-stuffed by the end.Storm stayed up here for at least the next two days. Time on my hands. My best meal recently has been moose roast marinated and braised in red wine.With apple cake for dessert.
A post I’ve been waiting for. Pigmeat improves everything! And (as I prepare to make a breakfast of grits, ham, okra, and chipotle) those shimp grits look great!
Also re. grits, @ W&M our mutual pal Jeryl & I used to make grits the night before, pour them in a can, and put that in the refrigerator. Next morning we’d cut the other end of the can and push the grits out, cutting slices as it emerged, and fry that.
Further grits: at an Indian restaurant here I once has a marvelous dessert made, as far as I could tell, of grits, mango puree and cardamom. There might have been some milk and sugar too. Has anyone else ever run into that?
And cornbread here in Braddock (not sure about the rest of Pittsburgh) is as likely to contain jalapenos as not.
I saw that on TV – the canned up grits that are fried the next day! It looked like the best! I’m going to have to try and replicate this.
we did the same with yellow corn meal, but put it to solidify in a loaf pan and sliced it. Fried mush, one of my favorite breakfast meals.
hello fellow western PA person! I grew up north of you in Clarion County.
One word summary: Mouthwatering!
It’s 3:30pm here in Germany, time for some extra lunch, this post has made me hungry! *drool*
I ain’t sayin nuthin.
I miss oysters. No denying the veracity of those.
O, while I oft do love me some .true. bbq, I absolutely and wholly adore oysters and seem never ever able to score enough of them. Yeah, in landlocked Iowa, radically expensive as well these are; but when parents were living, oysters were our Winter Solstice birthdays’ ( Daddy’s and mine ) celebratory treat !
Slaw — when done up with knuckles’ – grinding perfection — is another favorite.
Sadly, only downing — now — the morning’s oatmeal … …
Blue
“Leisure fascists and food police” – you mean they were not on the menu?!
“Salad. Useless filler” – what? Did those lettuces lay down their lives for PCC in vain?! :'(
Actually looks very nice.
“…and unidentified dishes.”
Now there’s a problem you want to have.
You do have to be careful about cleaning the smoker though. We did a couple days of BBQ tour in Austin last year (with Drew Thornley of the Man Up Texas BBQ Blog – a highly recommended excursion), and one of the joints we visited had damaged one of their smokers this way. A rivulet of grease had worked its way back to the firebox and created one very hot fire inside the smoker. They were considering themselves fortunate that they hadn’t lost the whole place.
Smoky patina = good. Ankle deep fat = bad.
Whenever I travel I like to eat local food leaing the health aspect at home. The other day in Weimar I had a stuffed cabbage leaf in the famous Elephantenkeller with roasted potatoes and drowned the food with a local draft beer from Apolda. Lecker as we say.
Sorry this answer does not take the photo.
Yes, looks succulent! Mouthwatering! And most of it not unhealthy at all, IMMO.
They do have ‘braai’ here, which in Europe is called BBQ, but it is simply meat grilled over charcoal. Your American BBQ appears to be a very different beast. It looks and sounds so good, I really would like to taste it.
In the mean time, since I haven’t had breakfast or lunch today, I’m going to throw some Karoo lamb chops on the fire…Karoo lamb feeds on the local bushes and herbs, which gives the meat a special ‘Karoo’ taste.
The best oyster season here is June, so I’ll wait with those…
Any suggestions regarding a good BBQ joint in South Florida?
I’ll be in Ft. Lauderdale for a few days soon….
quoted for truth:
“but really good BBQ needs no sauce: the smoke and the meat suffice.”
Your warning about locals parading you to the “finer” places instead of good BBQ joints is an echo of the Tummy Trilogy, the hilarious culinary adventures of Calvin Trillin. Highly recommended.
As Amazon summarizes them: In the 1970s, Calvin Trillin informed America that its most glorious food was not to be found at the pretentious restaurants he referred to generically as La Maison de la Casa House, Continental Cuisine. With three hilarious books over the next two decades—American Fried; Alice, Let’s Eat; and Third Helpings—he established himself as, in Craig Claiborne’s phrase, “the Walt Whitman of American eats.” Trillin’s three comic masterpieces are now available in what Trillin calls The Tummy Trilogy.
I’ve read the first two, and think that American Fried is one of the greatest of American eating books. (Liebling’s “An Appetite for Paris” may be the greatest.)
Looks delicious! Once again I’m envious, but as it’s 4am here and I’m likely to fall asleep again soon anyway, I have no excuses to eat.
Oh, and I’ve yet to work out what “grits” even are, let alone whether I’d want to eat them, despite years of American TV.
If you are familiar with polenta, then you know grits. Grits are nearly identical. Both are made of ground dried corn. About the only difference is they are typically made from different varieties of corn.
If you are not familiar with either, think of porridge made from various grains that are dried, ground or cut (steel cut oats) and then reconstituted and cooked down in water. Not much flavor in any of them except what you add to them.
We had a special treat as a child: fried grits.
Leftover grits would be spread in a pan and left to dry overnight in the refrigerator. Then they were taken out, sliced into small squares and rolled in flour, and dropped into hot bacon grease. Yum.
That does sound good. Fried + bacon grease? You can’t really go wrong with that.
I do love BBQ, and seafood. Unfortunately there are no good BBQ joints anywhere close to where I live right now. Though I do some pretty good BBQ myself, at least according to family, friends and my neighbor who is the executive chef at a posh golf club.
And oysters, oh man that po boy does look good. Properly fried, good quality oysters are wonderful things. But I think my favorite is raw, or lightly grilled if you must (but then you must chill them), a dollop of finely minced onion or shallot, a dollop of sour cream (not too much!), a dollop of caviar (some decent old school stuff, & you can keep the salmon roe) and last, to really bring it all together, a splash of vodka. When you achieve the proper proportions of all of those it is, as Jerry likes to say, sublime. Dirty oysters don’t quite cut it. The vodka is a must to achieve the synergistic state of delectablness that is possible with these ingredients.
The oysters and shrimps look delicious and that sandwich looks extra tasty!
As a Texan, it would be blasphemy to eat BBQ outside the confines of the Lone Star State… it took me five years to adjust to the new BBQ when I moved only a few hours away from where I grew up. East Texas favors smoky, spicy sauce on very lean brisket; Central Texas uses fattier cuts; slower cook times and a sauce with more sour and sweet than spice.
I’ve been to Hattiesburg many times, and sometimes made the grand tour of Mississippi to Greenville (3 hrs away), where a stop at Doe’s Eat Place is a necessary fact of life. The porterhouse is spectacular, huge, and well-prepared. The tamales are quite good for a non Mexico-adjoining state.
I went to USM and lived a few blocks from Strick’s. I agree that it is better than Leatha’s. My two favorite southern BBQ joints are Dreamland in Tuscaloosa and Rendezvous in Memphis. Other good grub in the ‘Burg is Sakura (baked scallops), Mike Anderson’s (crab guitreaux), and there used to be a guy named Scott who ran a a pizza business out of his house. Underground Pizza. No advertising, cash only or you could pay him with drugs or alcohol. It was a wonderful time.
Hats off to Prof Ceiling Cat as a man who knows how to eat — and this is coming from a guy with only two photo albums on Facebook: one for cats, one for barbecue.
Terrific though all that meat looks, what really got my mouth watering was those gorgeous plump oysters. And such big ones too!
Sadly, the Whitstable Oyster Festival is not until the end of July. But the Rye Scallop Festival starts this weekend….
I am going to have to stop reading this website. I need a new keyboard – my slobbering was just too much. I second what Jerry said about shrimp and grits. Although emphasize “properly prepared.” I have had it where it was pieces of rubber and a substance that was called grits.
You need one of those waterproof keyboards for posts like these.
The problem is I have no self control. I see the post and rather than take the time to put on a bib and cover the keyboard, I just barge right in. Although I disagree with Jerry about the best BBQ. Beef brisket is good but the best BBQ involves our porcine friends. My favorite BBQ is whatever I can get in the next few minutes. If all varieties are available, I go for eastern Carolina – whole hog with vinegar and spice sauce.
I should add that Memphis is a great BBQ town – a wide variety is available. I find Kansas City too sweet. In Chicago there is good barbecue – much on the South Side but inconsistent. There is one great place on the northwest side – Smoque. Their best dish is Jerry’s favorite – beef brisket.
http://www.smoquebbq.com/
“I can resist anything except temptation.”
Oscar Wilde
So much pork and shrimps and oysters!
The authors of Leviticus would surely wish to send you a heartfelt “Oy vey!” 😉
We love oysters. Even as little kids, we were shucking them ourselves and knocking them back with a sauce we made up ourselves — balsamic vinegar, Scotch bonnet peppers, raw onions, thyme (optional) and pimento seeds. When in a hurry, we reached for the fresh limes and tabasco. And of course our Mom would make her famous stuffed oysters, to die for!
could I ask for the recipe? 🙂
Sorry, I wish I had the exact recipe. But here’s roughly what she used to do:
She bought those dried oysters (the big ones that look kinda brownish – probably from a Chinese grocery store). She soaked them to soften them up, then wrapped them in some seasoned ground pork with finely chopped garlic and water chestnuts (optional), then wrapped the whole thing in either nappa cabbage leaves or in some of that white netting from some animal intestine or other (the French use this netting too). Then she steamed the whole stuffed oysters and served atop rice.
The funny thing is that the oysters are not really stuffed. They are the stuffing. 🙂 I enjoy switching things around, so if I were inclined to try to make this myself, I might use finely chopped shrimps instead of ground pork.
I think the oysters were smoked. You use the soft green part of the Nappa cabbage and steam that to soften a little, just like you’d make stuffed cabbage rolls. You can add chopped green onions, sesame oil, minced ginger or ginger juice to the ground pork mix too. Some people like to mix up a sauce using cornstarch, cold water and a bit of oyster sauce and just add to the juices in the steaming vessel, and heat till thickened.
The neat thing about the pork mixture is you can use that same combo to stuff tofu (or make wontons, etc). Cut tofu into 2″ by 1″ squares (smaller or larger if you prefer). Use the firm or medium tofu and carefully scoop out a bit of the center, leaving the bottom intact. Stuff with the pork mixture. Steam for at least 40 mins. or until the pork is properly cooked, making sure that the steamer doesn’t dry out. You don’t need a fancy steamer. I use a wide and deep saucepan with a dome lid to steam in, one that can accommodate a bowl or platter. Corning pie plates are great for this. For other custardy recipes, I use a deeper receptacle, one that can be easily lifted out of the pan/pot without injury.
oooh, wrapping in caul fat (that netting), wounds wonderful. thank you!
what wonderful pictures. I know what I’m roasting next weekend, a whole pork shoulder! I can nom on falling apart meat and crispy skin and then make bao, and maybe mix some with saurkraut and and and….
Oh, yum! That promises to be really good. Slurrpp.
I crave crawfish! But I would pick the BBQ first too.
Oh, wow, that must be like a gazeballs times!
Glad you got some naked bivalves AND an erster po’ boy as well, PCC!
However, where is the fried okra in the BBQ side dish photos? What kind of blasphemers fail to offer fried okra with BBQ?
I might give them a pass, though, because they had that banana pudding dessert – which I never manage to make for myself at home, but always eat when I have BBQ at a restaurant. Most BBQ joints will also offer peach cobbler, when peaches are in season (not now of course).
I’m like you Jerry…I eat very healthy at home, but when I’m travelling, no holds barred. A wonderful meal you had there, thanks for sharing the delectable noms.
I live close to a gourmet grocery store (makes Whole Foods look like Safeway) that has tanks full of oysters and clams. All are percolating in sea water and as fresh as gathering them directly from the ocean. They stock a dozen varieties of oysters plus a few varieties of clams. They change their stock with new species regularly, and I love mixing up different species; have never tasted an oyster I didn’t like. Though the really large ones I like to bbq, the small ones should always be enjoyed raw. I think I’ll have to pay them a visit tomorrow.
This Yankee can vouch for the wonderfulness of shrimp grits, but you forgot the best part… The shrimp MUST be fried-up (saute is too high-fallootin’ a term) in tons of bacon grease, which is then rouxed-up into thickened gravy. The shrimp and bacon gravy are then dumped into the grits with a shot of hot sauce.
Dem’s good eats.
Type II diabetes on a plate.
“Leisure fascists” is a fun phrase!
I would LOVE to try that shrimp and grits thing.
Southern food might not be the fanciest, and it’s certainly not the healthiest…but I do believe that there’s no cuisine better suited to gluttonous indulgence. Calling it “comfort food” doesn’t begin to do it justice, any more than would describing the finest silk sheets as something in the same category burlap, but we just don’t have the language to describe it properly.
If you’re in need of lots of damned good and powerfully satisfying food, go South.
b&
(“Cat head”) Biscuits and gravy. “Sticks to your ribs.” From my own Saturday morning experience at my grandmother’s house.
Umami fix.
I think I can replicate that shrimp dish.
I did something similar with shrimps, cream, fresh (only fresh!) tomatoes, jalapeno or cayenne pepper, and good quality cream. Served over good quality fettucini or spaghetti. Garnished with finely chopped parsley, basil, Parmigiana Regianno, lemon edges and chili flakes if desired. Cornbread on the side. There’s a restaurant that does a stupendous Cajun shrimp fettucine that I was trying to emulate, and it worked!
Oh yeah!
Oh sh!t, I’m hungry again — AND I JUST ATE LUNCH! Wow, looks GREAT.
I love you noms posts!!